John W. Burgeson (19 August 1931 – 12 September 2016) was an
IBM engineer who created the first computer
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
simulation game
Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...
in 1961 on an
IBM 1620
The IBM 1620 was announced by IBM on October 21, 1959, and marketed as an inexpensive scientific computer. After a total production of about two thousand machines, it was withdrawn on November 19, 1970. Modified versions of the 1620 were used as ...
Computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
in Akron, Ohio.
Burgeson's invention was accepted and officially recognized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in contribution.
A baseball fan and long-time member of
SABR
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...
, Burgeson initially wrote the program on his own time for enjoyment, He shared the program with the company, and they included it as part of the software that shipped with the 1620, for which it was the only game. The game was run by placing a deck of
punch cards
A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...
into a
card reader
A card reader is a data input device that reads data from a card-shaped storage medium. The first were punched card readers, which read the paper or cardboard punched cards that were used during the first several decades of the computer industry ...
, which in turn read them into the computer's memory. Users would pick a lineup from a roster of 50 players, the computer would pick its lineup from the remaining list and the simulation game was then played to completion based on the statistical probabilities for each batter and pitcher.
In 1961 a radio DJ at KDKA in Pittsburgh,
Rege Cordic, read three of Burgeson's printed play-by-play game results on the air in a re-creation of the fictional games.
On September 12, 2016 at the age of 85, John W. Burgeson died. He is survived by his wife, eight children, twelve grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.
John W. Burgeson's Personal Websiteh1>
References
American video game designers
2016 deaths
1931 births
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